PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — After little snow in November, Aroostook County was set to receive enough snow to make winter sports lovers happy by the end of the second week of December.
The National Weather Service in Caribou was forecasting snow accumulations of between 6 and 12 inches in Aroostook County for a storm starting Tuesday, Dec. 12, and continuing through Wednesday night.
While beginning under cold temperatures, the storm was expected to wrap up Wednesday with freezing rain, with temperatures reaching as high as 35 degrees in Caribou before again plunging into the teens and single digits Thursday and into the weekend.
“This will be a complicated storm with the rain/snow line pushing further inland through the day,” the National Weather Service in Caribou wrote Tuesday morning.
The “warm surge” was expected to come rapidly Wednesday morning between 4 and 7 a.m. with snow mixing or changing to rain as far north as Caribou, according to the National Weather Service forecast.
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- The walking path of Riverfront Park in Houlton (Joseph Cyr)
“Temperatures at the surface will likely be below freezing, so there could be a bit of freezing rain,” the National Weather Service reported.
Cold air will return during the day Wednesday with lows in the upper single digits Wednesday night, according to the forecast.
A Dec. 9 storm brought roughly six inches of snow to much of Aroostook County, along with a cold front that allowed the Bigrock Mountain and Lonesome Pines ski areas to make snow.
The night of Dec. 11 saw Aroostook County’s first sub-zero temperatures of the season, with Presque Isle going as low as 14 degrees below zero Tuesday morning, according to the National Weather Service.
Bigrock Mountain in Mars Hill is planning to open for the season on Saturday, Dec. 16. The Nordic Heritage Center in Presque Isle was expected to start grooming cross country ski trails on Wednesday.
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- Light now began falling in Presque Isle late in the morning on Tuesday, Dec. 12. (Anthony Brino)
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- Caribou saw a number of closures due to snow on Dec. 12. Cars on Sweden Street can be seen here driving at reduced speeds at 2:30 p.m. (Christopher Bouchard)
